David's final words, recorded in 2 Samuel 23, offer a profound reflection on his life and a prophetic glimpse of the coming Messiah. He speaks of the Spirit of God guiding his words and emphasizes the necessity of just and God-fearing leadership, anticipating a perfect ruler who will bring light and righteousness. The sermon then transitions to a retrospective look at David's mighty men, highlighting their volunteerism and courage in defending what was entrusted to them, such as Shammah's defense of a lentil patch. The message concludes by urging believers to stand firm in their faith, both defensively against worldly influences and offensively in spreading the gospel, drawing parallels to David's own life and the ultimate victory of Christ.
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Thank you. Very good. At this time, we're going to have a duet with Mrs.
Morgan and Mr. Dickens. Lankind is searching every day, in flesh of nothing new, but I have done the living thing, for what I have done to me. I discovered the way of gladness, and the way of joy.
I discovered the way of joy. I discovered with me some sadness, with the way of joy. I discovered the bountiful blessing. And I can take all my own.
I found the pearl of greatness twice, Eternal life so fair. But through the slave no flattering eyes, I found it too well rare. I discovered the way a flat mare. The bird will eat some sand bear.
There's a heaven in the mouth of a boy. I've discovered the sound of the sea. I've been there. I see one, when thy country is gone. Shall we bow and pray?
We'll ask our brother Richmond from St. Petersburg, Florida to lead us to the throne of grace. That I will be there.
Very good, our brother Andrews. Thank you.
Oh, the song that I sing is like joy on the ring, is the song of a singing heart. Of the silence I sing, the gladness me, is the song of a singing heart. When forgiveness was so good, but then changed into a tone, This word made my sadness too hard.
Now the song that I sing, is the love of a singing, Then the song of the heart redeemed, Where the joy of the most in love is the still the dream of in the sky of the rise of your heart.
Oh, the thunder I see, is the sky of the rain in the sun of the sea of light. As the heart went away from the blood of the peace in the realm of the peace in the heart When the king is broken, the saints will tremble, His word will not be found, But the hand shall be found.
Now the father and his name will be done, And the father will be gone. Thank you. And it comes to a thundering bow, Reading thin and gloomy far, And the glory of life when made whole, The doctrine singing within the heart, Oh, the song will I sing, till my song will play, in the song of the single heart.
that the madness of me, the madness of me is the song of a dreaming heart. And the gift of the struggle, the change of the brokenness of this world may not madness at all. Now the fall that can feel, in the north is the way, in the town of the king.
The Oh! Oh I
think that this is the appropriate time for me to say a word of appreciation to the conveners of the Bristol Conference for permitting Mrs. Tatham and myself to be here. This is our second year. We've fallen in love with the place, and more particularly with you, the people that go to make the place so very, very interesting. We've enjoyed every minute of it, and our souls have been refreshed. Thanks for the music, Jim, and the choir, and the soloists, and particularly the committee behind the scene. Our good, sparkling chairman, Mr.
Andrews, with all of his wit and his appropriate remarks, I appreciate that so much. And, too, I admire the firmness of the committee and handling all of us, because we need handling. And you know, it's a thankless job to regulate a conference, to enforce regulations and discipline and all that. I can say that freely because I've had nothing whatever to do with it. I haven't been an offender, I think, and perhaps I wouldn't be so generous in my remarks if I'd come under the under the condemnation of the police force, but you know, I tell you, you can't run a conference without having rules and regulations and discipline.
It's been my privilege, I was going to say, my responsibility to direct a conference in Canada for about two months every summer for the past five years. And I know that there's a great deal more than just platform performances to make the success of the conference. There's an awful lot of wear and tear behind the scenes. Really there is. And it's that that gives you sleepless nights. And when you have to have some regulations and enforce them and be firm, sometimes you're misunderstood and regarded as cranks and all that, but you cannot run any kind of an operation. I don't care how spiritual it is unless you have a framework of regulations within you must operate.
And so I say congratulations, brethren. God bless you and continue to use you here till Jesus comes. Now, Second Samuel chapter twenty-three, if you'll kindly turn to it, we want to conclude our meditations this evening on David. Tomorrow morning, when the conference concludes, we'll take up something else, probably the second Psalm, but tonight it's the twenty-third chapter of Second Samuel. Just a word of prayer.
Blessed Lord Jesus, we remember that thou didst look up to thy Father and say the words which thou gavest me, I have given them. And I would like this to be true in my own experience tonight, for the glory of thy name. Amen. All right, the twenty-third chapter of Second Samuel, And supposing we read together, let me see, the first twelve verses.
Will you read with me? Second Samuel twenty-three, and we'll read alternately, verses one through twelve, if you will. Now these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said, And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord is raised by me, and his word was made by God. The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruled over men must be just, rooting in the fear of God.
And he shall fear the Christ of the Lord. And as the men of the land springing out of the earth, I fear shining that great. Although my house be not so with God, yet hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things I am to assure. For this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Or, as the revised margin puts it, Will he not make it to grow? Okay, verse six. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of the spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
The name of the mighty man was David after him was Eliasia, the son of Dodo, the Edoheite, Ehoite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. After him was Shammah, the son of Egi, the heralds, Philistans were gathered together into a truce where there was a piece of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistans.
Three of the thirty chiefs went down and came to David in the harvest, time under the cave of Adela, and the troop of the Philistans pitched in the valley of Rephain. And what happens? Did I skip a... Oh, yes. That's right, I said verse twelve, didn't I? All right, now verse twenty. All right, let's take twenty and twenty-one. Let's all read together. And Beniah, the son of John Hoyer, the son of a valiant man of Cavsiel, who had done many acts, He slew two lion-like men of Moab.
He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand. But he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear. The words that preface this chapter are rather solemn words, are they not? There's a faith on us, and yet there's a joy that runs throughout this chapter.
Here we're permitted, I think, to steal into the royal bedchamber, and hear the very breathings, the last breathings, the last words of Israel's celebrated and beloved King David. Now these be the last words of David. David had been responsible for quite an output of words. His words filled the pages of First and Second Samuel and First Chronicles to say nothing of his psalms.
But these are his final ones. Evidently the sun is setting on this man of God. May I remind my own heart at this point that someday, perhaps sooner than I think, I'm going to utter my last words. And so are you. So are you. Would it be unkind on my part to say any who are Christless in this service tonight that you, too, are going to utter your last words.
There's going to come a moment when you'll smoke your last cigarette, when you'll take your last drink, when you'll have your last fling, and say your last word. I wonder what they'll be. I wonder what mine will be. I remember the last words of my Savior as he expired on the cross.
Father, into thy hands, I commend my Spirit. He had uttered just uttered his sixth cry, it is finished. And then it was, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. He had a very choice. Servant did this, Lord, who died a martyr's death a few weeks later. And his last words, as I recall them, were these, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he died Jesus. amidst the hail of murderous stones.
His name was Stephen. And then he had another servant, a choice servant. His name was Paul. And among his last words were these, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Therefore, this laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge should give me in that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that have loved his appearance. These last words are worth recording. Your last words, of whom, of what will they be?
David's last words? had to do with the coming Messiah, the hope of Israel, the blessing of men. These be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said, The man was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me. and his word was in my tongue. Whatever doubts the unbelievers have as to the inspiration of David's utterances, he had none himself.
He was convinced that his utterances were the very breathings of the indwelling spirit. For many centuries later, Peter by inspiration reminded us that the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, signified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. And again, holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And David, at the close of his long and useful testimony, he says, Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
Notice the blending of the divine with the human. The Spirit of the Lord spake. But he spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. Every Christian worker, every preacher, every Sunday school teacher, Every Christian witness should covet, to be able to truthfully say this, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was in my tongue. Now in the chapter, the exposition of which I'm not going to attempt tonight, but I confess that it's quite beyond my ability.
But I say the chapter really breaks, I think, into two great sections. First of all, there is a bright prospect that embodies verses three and four and five. And then, beginning with verse eight, and running through to verse thirty-nine, the end of the chapter, we have not so much prospect as we have retrospect. Now, what I mean by that, simple as this, in the first movement of this chapter, the dying king looks onward, and then from verse eight he looks backward.
He surveys the future, and his heart becomes a glow with praise and glory. And then he looks back, and he recalls the mighty deeds of his mighty men. I think, therefore, friend, this chapter might be a leaf out of eternity's book. Here's a man there. that looks back upon the past and from the vantage, from the high, lofty vantage of a life that's closing, he can look back and intelligently assess something of the activities of yesterday.
But before he goes into that, he catches a gleam from Emmanuel's land. Notice what he says in verse three. The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me, He that rulers over men must be just ruling in the field of God. That would be a great text for a presidential inauguration. That would be a great text. for a king's coronation. He that rulers over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
In other words, any man that assumes the place of leadership among men must be righteous in his dealings manward, and he must be fearing and reverent in his attitude God-word. He must be rightly related then, on both the vertical and the horizontal levels. He must be rightly related, God-word, ruling in the fear of God, and ruling justly over men, who among all of Earth's rulers, has really filled the bill.
Let your mind go back. Think of all the great and the would-be greats, all the kings, presidents, and potentates that dot the page of history. There isn't one of them who, friends, fully measures up, for whenever men find power consolidated in their hand, they abuse that power sooner or later. He that ruled it over, and then must be just ruling in the spirit of God. Ah, says David, in effect, there's only one who can meet the dimensions of that demand.
There's only one And he hasn't yet appeared on the stage of human history, but it will appear. And when he appears, he shall be as the light of the morning. When the sun shineth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain, Oh, here is one of those Old Testament prophetic glimpses of the coming just one, of the one who is going to fulfill the role perfectly.
He's going to rule in the fear of God, and therefore he's going to rule justly among earth citizens. And when he comes with David, It will be like the rising of the sun after the long watches of the night. His coming is appearing will be like the sun when the sun rises, as clear shining after rain, as a morning without clouds. Every other king in every other kingdom, his day, his reign has been marred by clouds. But when this one comes, this righteous ruler, this Messiah, it's going to be like the sunrise, and there'll be no clouds in the heavens to modify the brightness and the glory of his righteous reign.
Significant, I think. that the last book and the last chapter of the Old Testament ends on such a note. To you who fear my name, wrote Malachi, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings or in his rays? And he looks on, friends, to the coming of the Savior. when our Lord will return to earth in power and great glory with all of his angels after the long dark night of man's rebellion and sin.
You know, the New Testament doesn't put the spotlight on the rapture. It puts the spotlight on the glorious public, visible, return to earth of our Lord. Now, I'm saying that. I'm not downgrading the rapture of the church. You understand that. It's a secret that is the particular property of the saints of God. And there are unmistakable references in the New Testament to it. And peculiarly, that is the Church's hope.
But I say the great emphasis in the New Testament is placed on that public aspect of the Lord's return, this long period of His absence, running from the cross to the revelation, His public appearance. This long period is likened in the New Testament to the night. Paul writing to the Romans reminds them that the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul says they that be drunk are drunk in the night.
They that sleep, sleep in the night. But we don't belong to the night, although we're in it. We belong to the day. The long night. Now the Romans divided their night. In fact, the Jews divided their night into four watches of three equal hours. The night began at sundown, approximately six p.m., and it ended at sunrise, approximately six a.m. And between those twelve hours, There were four equally divided watches, six to nine, nine to twelve, twelve to three, and three to six, comprising the first watch, the second watch, the third watch, and the fourth watch.
Do you remember in Mark thirteen our Lord said something? If the master of the house comes in the second watch or the third watch, the cop crowing and so on, he said, Be on, the alert. And it seems to me that this whole long age It's falling into four great watches, the apostolic period, when the shadows of day modified the night, and we had a period of twilight there after the setting of the sun at Talbury, and then that was followed by the second watch from nine to twelve, those long medieval years, that long period of centuries.
during which Christianity was largely in chains, and the Bible was almost an unknown book. And then the third watch began, from twelve to three, with a cock-crowing, and the Protestant Reformation, and the light began to pierce the darkness as Luther and Zingley and all these men of God. began to light the fires of truth or the light lamps of truth throughout Europe, and the Protestant Reformation was born. But it seems to me that we're much farther down in the course of history than the Third Watch.
We've come into the Fourth Watch, and I believe, beloved, that we're in the closing moments of the Fourth Watch, and the day is at hand. And there's going to burst in upon the world with brilliant suddenness, the rising of the Son of Righteousness. And when our Lord comes back again, He'll bathe the earth with a thousand glorious years of light. That will be the day of the Lord when, friends, Jesus Christ, the despised suffer of the cross when Jesus Christ openly, publicly interferes in human affairs and fulfills the age-long prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven.
Oh, said David, He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises even a morning without clouds. I believe that during the thousand years there will be two distinct fears. Now the prophets of the Old Testament emphasize the earthly side. of Messiah's millennial kingdom, the book of the Revelation emphasizes the heavenly size of the thousand years.
And if I understand the prophetic forecast correctly, the heavenly things, those who share in the first resurrection, raised as we had in our Bible reading this afternoon in glorified body, will be associated with the Lord Jesus in the Father's kingdom. That's the heavenly side. Whereas the survivors of the Great Tribulation Period, the godly remnant of Israel, and the great uncountable number of Gentiles who come through and out of the Great Tribulation will go on to the earthly side of the Millennial Kingdom.
And these two spheres, these two spheres will be contemporaneous throughout the Kingdom Age. I'm simple enough to believe that the heavenly city will be like a great, shimmering, luminous, satellite, invisible display over the earth. The heavenly Jerusalem will be the abode of the saints, and you and I will be there in our glorified bodies Those spiritual bodies, not these soulish bodies that are adapted to the soul and its moods, but spiritual bodies, bodies that are adapted to the spirit, and like the Lord Jesus, and we will be in that heavenly city reigning over the earth.
Now I believe there will be an earthly capital as well. I believe that Zion will be the highest peak of earth. I believe that Zion will be literally exalted above the hills. I can't understand the book of Isaiah, the second of Isaiah, any other way than that, that Zion will be the highest pinnacle outstripping Mount Everest. And this calls, of course, for tremendous physical changes in the Middle East.
But, of course, there will be such physical changes. The amount of all of them is going to be split in two when Messiah's feet touch that mountain in that day. There'll be a very great valley. The Dead Sea will be healed. Waters will flow out of the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, from Jerusalem, part of them going to the Mediterranean, part of them down to the Dead Sea, healing that salt lake. And there'll be tremendous geographical and topographical changes in the land, and Mount Zion, I believe, will rise and tower and dominate all of Earth's crests in that day, and will be the earthly capital.
And then the nations will walk in the light of that heavenly city, and there will be wondrous communication between that heavenly city and the earthly capital, and the earthly government will be mediated through Israel and the apostles. As our Lord promised, they'll sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. It'll be a great day, friends. It'll be a day of just unimagined glory, and all nations will call our Lord blessed in that day. David, I think, just caught a glimmer of it here.
I'm glad that you and I live on this side of David's life and reign, and we have the completed cannon that unfolds these glittering glories that thrill our hearts. You see, during this period, the Lord is gathering out His cabinet. He's gathering out His administrators. And if we suffer with Him now, we're going to share that administration in that day. That, I assure you, is worth going in for. What a prospect lay before this man. He was thinking of the coming of Messiah.
And friends, his last words concern his glory. But then he doesn't forget his mighty men. David also, from the vantage point of the clothes of his life, looked back and remembered his mighty men. My, what an array of them there is in this section, beginning with verse eight. These be the names of the mighty men whom David had. and then follows the roster. Now where did he get these men? Where did they come from? I would just remind you that all of these men were volunteers.
There wasn't a conscript in David's army. It was during the years of his privations and suffering and unpopularity when he was in the cave. that these men, oh, sick and tired of Saul and his intolerable governance, they simply deserted, and they became refugees from Saul's dominions. They gathered together to David, and it is written that he became a captain over there.
There was one captain in that cave. There was one commander-in-chief in that band of men. Four hundred at first, six hundred a little later. These were men who volunteered. And they came to the cave, not because they loved to live in caves, but because they loved the man who was in the cave. And they were attracted to David during the years of his rejection. When David had his innings and came to the throne of Israel, these men became his mighty men, men whom he honored with cabinet and other administrative positions.
Coming in for honorable mention is Eliezer, verse nine. Eliasia, the son of Jodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. I suppose those men of Israel argued that he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. So they scrammed, and they left David, and three of his men. And David here chronicles the valor of one of these men.
Now, you'll notice that David didn't do the fighting. He was no coward, but he was sufficiently magnanimous to record the bravery of one of his men when he himself didn't steal the show. He says, I don't want you to forget Shama. You ask David and what about him? What do you do? Well, it says in verse ten he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto his sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day. Uh-oh. And the people returned after him, only to spoil.
That simply means, of course, that after the fighting was all done, then these brave Israelites came and they said now we're interested. We'll help you divide the, count the converts and divide the collection. The people returned after him only to spoil. But Shama, Shama, stood up to these Philistines, and he took his sword, and he made good use of it.
And David says that man stood, there were only three of us with him. And when we saw the courage of Shema, as he took his sword and waded into these Philistines, we saw God do something that day. This man got a grip on his sword, and he got such a tight grip on his sword that when the fighting was all over, he couldn't let go of it. The muscles of his hand somehow got around the sword, the cabbard the handle of that sword, rather, that he just couldn't let it go.
His hands clave onto his sword, even when he was with. First of all, he got a grip of it, and then it got a grip of him. I'd like that to be true of this sword in my life. How's your grip? What are you gripping? We're all gripping something. We're all our friends to do this, to grasp and to grip and to acquire, all for modern shamans who take such a hold of this holy book.
but they won't be able to let it go in the after years. My brethren, in my opinion, the greatest need of the hour in the Church of God is for men who can take and explain and apply the English Bible. I must confess that I have grave misgiving, about the modern emphasis everywhere apparent today on the glorifying of the human intellect. Now the world is filled with it.
Our scientists, our scientific achievements, look what man is doing today. Glory be to man! I say the atmosphere is charged with it, the progress of humanity, what we are doing. And you know this germ has infected the church as well, and we're living in a day when there is a very, I think, a very unhealthy emphasis being placed upon academic achievement and scholarship.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I am not the enemy of true scholarship and education. Would God I admire it. I have very little of it. And I say that sincerely. But, friends, in spiritual things, let us ever remember this, that divine truth, God's truth, is not acquired through the intellect so much as it is through the conscience and the heart. That's a fact. And we must remember this as well, that you and I are not all intellects.
We're emotion as well. Now I know you can go overboard and overbalance in either direction. You can emphasize the human intellect and exalt scholarship and learning and so on at the expense of emotion. And on the other hand, you can have wildfire, and you can have emotionalism friends that simply carries people off their feet and makes them spiritual nuts and cranks. We need to keep the balance. But friends, listen, we need today, preeminently, men who know and who can explain and who can apply to every, the problems of everyday living, the principles of the English Bible.
Never forget that it's out of the belly that the rivers of living water flow, not out of the intellect. It's out of the heart that the Spirit of God causes those rivers of water to flow. And the Lord Jesus on one occasion looked up to his Father, and he said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudence, Let's reveal them to whom? To whom? To whom? Babes. Babes? But I, in my pride, I say, Who wants to be a babe?
That's an insult. I'm no babe. Nor do I intend to be regarded as a baby. God says very well, if you're not a baby, you'll never learn. If you are not willing to take their place as a baby, You'll never learn my truth. And that's why it is that the simple, humble believer and student of this book, who, my friend, studies it on his knees, independent upon the living spirit of God and practice in his life, is far more intelligent as to the future than all the wise acres in Washington, D.C.
or in Ottawa, Canada. This man got a hold of the sword, and the sword got a hold of him and gripped him so that he couldn't let it go. I've known men like that, haven't you? I've known men that were filled with the Word of God, and whenever you get near them, they're imparting to you something of spiritual worth and profits. And then there was another man here who fought a defensive battle, and his name was Shama. Of him we read in verse eleven, after him was Shama, the son of so-and-so.
And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines, running true to form, and the crowd ran away, and left Shama all alone. And it says, but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it, and slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory. Here are the man, friends, who, in dependence upon God, stood his ground. Now these two men, Eleazar in verses nine and ten, and Shamm in verses eleven and twelve, both fought defensive battles. They stood. They stood. Are you standing?
Someone has well said, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. And it's true. What are you standing for? Or are you standing? Are you standing in your life and testimony? Are you a victorious Christian, a Christian that's enjoying what God has given you? You may not know much truth, It may be only a lentil patch, but those lentils, friends, that were used sometimes for cattle, mostly for cattle, but in times of drought and poverty, those lentils were used as food for God's people.
Shama said to those marauding plunderers, those Philistines, listen, it's only a lentil patch. But it's the food of God's people, and I'm going to stand and defend it, cost what it may. I think of Ephesians chapter six. Finally, my brethren, don't turn to it. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to. S.E.A. and he stand in the evil day and having done all to stand... Stand, therefore, oh, stand.
Here, then, is something to stand for, how to stand in the strength of the Lord, with the courage that's begotten of the Holy Spirit, to stand for the great truths of this Holy Book and what God has committed unto us. That's what it is to be an overcomer. I remember visiting a Christian lighthouse keeper in the Bahamas a number of years ago, and going out to that lighthouse on that rocky coast, I was attracted to the surf that was rolling in from the sea and pulling itself on the rocks.
The rocks weren't too steep, sort of a gradual declivity, but I was fascinated, as I always am, with those mighty breakers or comers that come in from the ocean, and I watched them, and I slipped down when they break and receive, I slipped down and played like a kid for a while and danced to those waves, and as I was jumping back as they would leak, I noticed a crab, and there's lots of them there, about as big as your hand, and they could run very, very fast on those rocks. And I noticed one crab, as the coma broke and then receded back into the sea, I saw that crab running around on those shiny rocks.
And then I saw one of those great waves out there, and I saw it rise, and it arched its back, and it threw itself with boasted omnipotence almost on those rocks. And I nimbly leaped back to a dry spot as it broke. And I thought, that's the end of my friend, the crab. He can't take that one. And that great wave broke and fell back in impotence, back into the sea again. And as it did, I looked. There was my little friend.
He hadn't been doing any running during that wave, but he'd been hanging on. And I remembered that the living God has provided every creature with some device to hang on. whether it's claws or whether it's a kind of a suction cup or something, God has provided those creatures with an ability to hold on. And I thought of the verse, to him that overcomer will I give. That little crab was an overcomer, an overcomer. It was standing. How often the wave sweeps us away.
and we lose our joy, we lose our grip, and lose our testimony. To him that overcomes these men were overcome. But then in closing there was another man, Deniah, into whose exploits I shall not go. You fill it out for yourself in verses twenty and twenty-one. He did not fight defensively. But his was an offensive fight. He met an Egyptian, and he wasn't armed that day, was Benaiah. All he had was a staff, but his opposer had a spear.
And as the Egyptian attacked with his spear, having the advantage, Benaiah grabbed the spear and turned it on his enemy and slew him with his own spear. Remind us of David himself and his handling of Goliath. It reminds us of our Lord's victory, but here, friends, was an offensive fight. Now, Christianity is both. I've got to stand defensively against all the heavy onslaughts of anti-Christian influences, my own personal life. my own home. I must guard that home.
For there are certain influences today, friends, that would come in and rob us of our Christian home and would destroy the family altar and would invade the home with every kind of worldliness and worldly influence. We've got to learn to stand and make a battlement about the roof. As Israel was commanded in the Book of Deuteronomy, But then, too, there's an offensive fight as well. We've got to carry the battle to the enemy. We've got to be vigorous in our evangelism and in our missions and carry the fight to the enemy out there.
Let me turn back the page of my diary in closing. God saved me. as a young man in my team in the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada in nineteen twenty-one. In nineteen twenty-four I was offered a job. I won't glorify it with the name of position. It was a job in a city that was about a hundred and fifty miles from where I was born. And I accepted that job the night journey to that city. I'll never forget the first night I was in that city.
I knew no one. I was lonely. I was cold. And I was homesick. But my brethren had given me what they called a letter of commendation to the little company in that city. And so I sought them out, and the first night I was in the city, I went to the little prayer meeting. How kind those people were to me during the months I was in that city. I shall never forget their kindness.
They met in a little dingy, shabby room down by the gas works. My word, a stranger would almost need two Indian guides to find the place. It was so hidden away. They met there regularly, and I met with them. They had lovely little gatherings. There was only a little handful of them.
They had no young people, mostly older folks. But somehow my heart went out to them and they put their arms around me and, oh, we were blessed together. But do you know, they were very, very strong on Bible readings and they had no evangelical testimony. They had no Sunday school. They had no gospel preaching. I suppose they figured nobody'd come in anyway, so what the use? I don't know what was the thinking behind it, but I'm just telling you the facts. And I had been converted a few years, and I was active, and I got restless.
And there was an old man in that little assembly named Murphy. I remember him so well, an old Irishman, and he had some gospel fire burning in his heart, and he used to go off to the hospital on Sunday evening and give out tracks and visit the rooms and so on. And I did a very, very naughty thing. I played hooky from the little Sunday night Bible reading, and I went with the old man. Some of my brethren came to me and they said, you shouldn't do that. You should be here. Now, I love Bible readings. You know that. I love a Bible reading, but they specialized in it.
That's all they had. And so, friends, there was something stirring in my heart, and I kept going with old man Murphy. to the hospital and I used to help them give out tracts and I began to speak there a bit and preach a little bit after a fashion to these folks in the wards. And I got my knuckles wrapped for going. Well, I don't want to speak disrespectfully of those people. When I let them to go out on my first gospel trip in the fall of that year, Circumstances opened up and I was invited to join a gospel team.
And when I left that place, those dear brethren came to me and they gave me the first gift of fellowship that I ever had in my life. They gave me fifteen dollars. And you know, I confess that when I got that fifteen dollars in my hand, I was almost afraid to touch it. I said, oh, I can't, I can't, I can't take this. And they said, well, this is the Lord's money and you're going out on your gospel trip and we want to have fellowship with you. You know, I looked at that fifteen dollars and I thought, Lord, this is the worship money of these people. I can't, I can't take this, but they pressed on me to take it.
And I took it with some diffidence. I kind of got over that, I must confess. I wish I'd still retained that feeling. Be that as it may. I went out and left them. But you know, friends, let me tell you the sequel. I've been back in that city a number of times since. I was in that city some years ago speaking at a Youth for Christ rally. Someone said to me, is this your first trip to this city? And I said, oh, no. I said, I used to live here. Oh, they said, did you?
Where did you fellowship? Where did you go to church? I said, well, I used to go to that hall down by the gas works. I said, we never heard of it. I said, no. They said, where's the congregation? I said, they're all here. They're still here, only they're all out in the cemeteries. You know, I know of only one sister that's living today that was associated with that group in nineteen twenty-four when I was there. Only one. That little group, my friends, dried up and blew away, gone with the wind long ago.
And as I thought it over, I thought of what someone said, if we don't go out. will die out. What are we going to do, beloved, with the truth that God has given us during these days here? First of all, practice it, and then secondly, propagate it and get it out to others. And as we do so, we can count upon the increase of God on the glory of someone who said, Occupy till I come. Let's stand and be dismissed. And just before I close in prayer, Mr.
Andrews. Just a brief reminder to the brethren who will help. Several of you could just gather these books immediately, and if about five or six will meet me back here, we'll take these other large books and put them back in the rack and have a big job, by the way, thanks for your help. Father, take it. Let us pray. And now, loving Father, we've come to the close of this week of blessing and glory and fellowship and joy and refreshment and renewal. And we give thee thanks for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Oh, we praise thee for the life of David.
We pray thee that we too might catch fresh glimpses of the sunrise and that too we might assess our own lives Look down into our hearts, we pray thee. May we have dealings with thee in this closing weekend. Glorify thy name. We pray thee in our lives and in our families. Now, Lord, give us a good night's rest tonight. Raise us up to do thy will tomorrow as we go into our final sessions. We ask in the Savior's name. Amen.